What Are Copyright Infringement Penalties and How to Avoid Them

Have you ever “borrowed” someone’s work online? Maybe you right clicked on an image in Google and didn’t think much of it or used a copyrighted photograph when making a meme. Whether you edited a picture or posted the original, these are examples of copyright infringement.

For photographers, instead of being the ones committing the crime, they are often on the receiving end. Infringement can involve someone using your images for personal use, marketing, and more.

The bottom line is that they are breaking your copyright and could face penalties. Read along as we explore exactly what copyright infringement is, and how you can protect yourself and your craft.

What is Copyright Infringement?

To put it, copyright infringement is when work that is covered and protected through copyright laws is used without permission. This could be art, photography, writing, or other creative material. When copyright infringement occurs, the person who used the work did not follow the rights and rules granted to the holder of the copyright.

Protected content needs permission for the ability to use, perform, reproduce, distribute, display the work, or do derivative works. It does not matter if you posted copyright work by accident or took it down immediately, you can still be found at fault.

What Are the Penalties for Copyright Infringement?

Though these penalties can differ per country, you can face civil or criminal charges in the United States, and the penalties are as follows:

The law states that each work infringed can cost the infringer $200 to $150,000 if fined or found guilty.
Infringer pays the (actual) amount of damages and profits, AKA restitution.
The Infringer will pay for all attorney’s fees and court costs.
The court will issue an injunction to stop the infringing acts immediately.
Jail time is possible, depending on the offense. If found guilty, you could face up to 5 years in prison. If you are caught again, you could face up to 10 years in jail!
The court may impound the illegal works.

What to Do If You Get Hit with a Copyright Infringement Penalty

Remove the work from your site, blog, or page.
Offer to credit the creator or issue a public apology, if no prosecution is pursued.
Consider hiring an attorney.
Offer a settlement (for example, they drop charges, and you pay them any profits made off the work).
Hire original creators for which you own the rights of the material, stated in writing or via contract.
Familiarize yourself with the different types of copyrights and only use work in the way it is allowed to be used/ credit the creator if that is their permitted use.
Search photographs that are approved for use.
Take your photos.
Beware of sites such as Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, as you will likely violate someone’s copyright if you use the material found.
Unless a piece of work states that it is free to use, assume it is copyrighted and doesn’t use it.

Bottom line, don’t use work that isn’t yours and if someone is using work that belongs to you, send them a “Cease and Desist” letter, lest they face legal action.

Decide if you want them to remove the work, stop using it, or credit you as the creator of said work. If you wish to explore work with copyrights you can use, try CreativeCommons.org.

To find out within minutes if an image is being used in a way that infringes on the copyright, go to Berify. At Berify, you can upload one or many pictures and see links to all the places that the image has been used.

This is possible through the use of revolutionary reverse image search technology and a proprietary algorithm. Stop wondering and find out today at Berify. Berify helps you find stolen images and get credit for your work today!

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